Multipocketed billfold having interlocked end and edge flaps



E. K. RENZ April 13, 1948.

MULTIPOC KETED BILLFOLD HAVING INTERLOCKED END AND EDGE FLAPS Filed Nov. 1, 1945 6 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORY. 5 1/ 2r/ 5/7.;

E. K. RENZ April 13, 1948.

MULTIPOCKETED BILLFOLD HAVING INTERLOCKED END AND EDGE FLAPS Filed Nov. 1 1945 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. v. r/ @172 April 13, 1948.

MULTIPOCKETED BILLFOLD HAVING INTERLOCKED END AND EDGE FLAPS Filed Nov. 1, 1943 G Sheets-Sheet 3 1 IINUVENTO'R.

- r 5071/ Ar/ ieoz E. K. RENZ 2,439,579

I April '13, 1948 RENZ 2,439,579

MULTIPOCKETEDYBILLFOLD HAVING INTERLOCKED END AND EDGE FLAPS Filed Nov. 1, 1943' 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. .Y. 5111/ Zr/ [F /11 D AND EDGE FLAPS 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

.- EIWI/ Qr/ 1 /12 April 13,- l948- E. K. RENZ 2,439,579 7 MULTIPOCKE'I'ED BILLFOLD HAVING INTERLOCKED END AND EDGE FLAPS Filed Nov. 1, 1943 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 mmvrm 7/7 Kor/ F6772 Patented Apr. 13, 1948 MULTIPOCKETED BILLFOLD HAVING IN- TERLOCKED END AND EDGE FLAPS Emil Karl Renz, Dedham, Mass, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Debonair, Inc., Boston, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 1, 1943, SerialNo. 508,539

. 3 Claims. (01. 150-38) The present invention relates to wallets for keeping bills, cards and other things of a similar cemented over the face nature, and is an improvement on my copending application Serial No. 493,241, filed July 2, 1943, now Patent No. 2,366,875, issued January 9, 1945.

The present invention has for its purpose the construction of an improved wallet which is more flexible and can readily hold a great number of bills, cards and other such items, more than wallets of previous constructions without show-v ing a center bulge. In the construction according to my prior application, this is accomplished. in part by the method by which theinner side or wall of the wallet is free or floating .to adjust itself between given limits when folded according to the number of bills or cards contained therein.

The construction according to the present invention contains this feature, but in addition thereto has other new constructional features which pro vide an improvement over the prior invention mentioned above.

Each half of the wallet of the present invention is provided with pockets facing the central portion of the wallet, but these pockets do not extend to the middle of the wallet, but are finished 01f in sections considerably spaced from the middle providing a wide, flexible hinge in the central section of the wallet which easily yields and bends to take up the fullness present in the wallet when it has a great number of bills in .the main fold and cards in the pockets.

In addition to this where additional pockets A further advantage of the present inventionis provided by the construction which insures that each of the pockets is sealed off one from the other so that the articles will be retained in the pockets where they are placed without working their way to other pockets or falling out.

A still further advantage in the present invention is found in the combination of a stay mem her with folded end portions forming floating pockets which are closed at the open sides or edges of the folded sheets by tongue elements which are 2. of the stay member. This floating pocket feature may be :used in combination with a divider anchored loosely to the bottom corners of the stay member in its folded position in the wallet, thus permitting freedom of adjustment of both the stay member, the divider and the divider with respect -to the stay member. The present invention is also easy and simple toconstruct and assemble. It may :be assembled from two or more pieces of leather or fabric which may be died out from a sheet without any sewing and a minimum of gluing.

Other and further advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the specification describing with modifications, an embodiment of the invention when taken in connection with the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a development of one element of the wallet.

Figure 2 shows a development of a second element of the wallet.

Figure3 shows a view of. the wallet assembled as viewed from the inside cover when the wallet is unfolded.

Figure 4 shows a fragmentary view on the final assembly before the wallet is finished as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 shows a fragmentary view in the beginning of the assembly of the two pieces shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 6 shows a later step in the assembly than that shown in Figure 5.

Figure '7 shows a view of a modification of the invention shown in Figures 1-6, Figure 7 being a development corresponding to Figure 1.

Figure 8 shows a development of a second elewallet unfolded.

Figure13' shows the development of a second the completed billfold of the modification of Figures 1 to 6 taken on the line corresponding to the section line l-I5 of Figure 3;

Figure 16 shows a longitudinal section taken substantially on the line l6l6 fFig'ure Figure 17 shows a transverse section'throu h' the completed billfold of the modification shown in Figures 7 to 11 taken substantially on the line |1l'l of Figure 11; Figure 18 shows a longitudinal section taken substantially on the line l8l8'of Figure 17; Figure 19 shows a transverse section of the com;

In the construction shown in the Figures 1-6} the wallet, as has been stated, is made from two sheets, I and 2, of leather, fabric or other flexible or yielding material. .In the development shown in Figure 1, all of the dotted'lines are lines indicating folds with the exception of the two dotted rectangles 3 and 4, which are pieces of fabric that are attached by pasting, or other means; on the back of the sheet'l as viewed in Figure 1. These sheets should be pasted only at the edges. The sheet I is provided with an elongated rectangular portion 5 which ultimately forms the back or outer wall of the wallet. This is provided at its other long free edge with a facing portion 6 and at its ends has flaps! and 8. These flaps will be more fully described later. They combine with other elements in the construction not only for the purpose of assembly, but also to provide pockets; '7

The portions 9 and ID in the central section ultimately form the outer faces of the inside pockets of the wallet and together with the" single fiat sheet 2, form the inside wall or rear face of the wallet.

The sections VII and I2 are flap portions, extensions respectively of the parts 9 and ID and are adapted to fold along the edges [3 and I4 over the sheet 2, which sheet. in position lies in face to face relationship with the portions 9 and") of the sheet I. The portions 9 and ID of the sheet I have flaps cut in them. These flaps are shown at [5 for the, portion 9, and I5 for the portion ID The flaps I and 8 which extend from the ends of the portionof the sheet I,

have-respectively endflaps l1 and ['8 which fold over the flaps l6 and [5 respectively with the folding edge i9 coinciding with the long free edge of the flap I6 and folding edge coincid over forward as viewed inFigure 5, the tab 24' being'inserte'd in the slit'2B and the tab 23 beedge of the flap I6.

ing inserted in the slit 25. When this has been done, then the portion 5 of the sheet I is folded to the front as viewed in Figure 5.

Figure 6 is a view showing the reverse of the view of Figure 5 with the wallet as folded in the position just called for. From this position, Figure 6, the flap I! will be folded forward to the left'with the folding line I9 coinciding with the The flap H so folded has longer side extensions at A and B than the flap IB and this extension is slipped in at corresponding sides A-and B of the flap It. In the same way the flap l8 is folded over to the right, the folding edge coinciding with the edge of the flapjl5 and the extended edges slipped in at the sides of the flap behind the portions 9 and 19 of the sheet I as viewed in Figure 6.

The back pieces 3 and 4 in this way form pockets with the pocket openings along the edges of the flaps l5 and IS. The wallet is in this way completely assembled. The only glueing except the facings 6, 8l', 82 and 9| that is needed is the glueing of the back part of the flaps l! and 18 over the flaps l6 and [5 respectively.

In Figure 4 is shown the final stage of folding the flap l8 over the flap [5 cut in the portion 9 of the sheet I. In the complete assembled view of Figure 3 the ends of the flap l8 are tucked in at the sides of the flap I5 behind. the face of the portion 9.

The wallet as described has an inner pocket 39 formed between the wall 5 and the piece 2, and two half pockets 3| and 32 formed between the piece 2 and the portions 9 and II] respectively of the piece I. A third set of pockets 33 and 34 is formed between the faced inner pieces 3 and 4 attached to the inside of portions 9 and I9 and the inner walls of portions 9 and 19 with the pocket opening at the flaps l5 and I6. The additional elements or sheets 3 and 4 attached to the portions 9 and 19 give added strength to these portions and provide a stiffness in the lower parts of this half of the pockets so that the bend is taken in the center section of the wallet itself. This permits a great expansion with a uniform rounded fold, especially because of the yield of the piece 2 which is only positioned by means of the tabs 23 and 24 operating in the slits 25 and 26. The space between the openings of the pockets 3| and 32 is considerably larger than that necessary to provide for the bending of the thickness of the sheets used, anywhere from ten to twenty times or more the combined thicknesses of all the sheets in the center section of the wallet.

In the modification shown in Figures 7 to 11 inelusive; two elements are employed, the element 40 corresponding in general to the element l of Figure .1, and the element 4| corresponding to the element 2 of Figure 2. In this modification the element 4| is the stay member and is folded along the fold 'edge 42 with the portions 43 and 44 of the'stay member lying'in face to face relationship with the portion 45; In this folded position, theside slots 46 and 41 coincide and so also the slots 48 and 49. The portions 43 and 44 have an open space between them which forms the opening between the pair of pockets formed by the folded stay element. The member 40 is provided with a substantially rectangular section 50 and two'end flaps 5| and 52 as well as two side flaps 53 and 54, both extending from the same side of the portion 50.

In Figure 7 the dotted lines represent fold lines, the long rectangular section 55 to the left of the section 50 being a face fold for the finish edge of the large pocket of the wallet. The end flaps and 52 each carry flap portions-56 and 5'! extending at the left as indicated in Figure 7-.

These flaps 56 and 51 fold on the folding edges 58 and 59 respectively. Each of the'flap members 56 and 57 are provided with tabs 96 and 6| as indicated in Figure '7 corresponding to the tabs shown in the member The, tabs extend somewhat beyond the edge of the flaps 56 and 5'! respectively. In the development shown in Figure '7 the diagonal slots 62 and 63' should also be noted.

These slots receive the wing elements 94 and 55 of the flaps 52 and 5| when" the latter are folded in position in the assembling of the wallet. The flap members 86 and .61 fold over on the fold lines 68 and 69 respectively to finish the open ends of the outer pockets of the wallet as will be explained presently.

Figure 9 shows the first step in' the assembly of the members is and 4|. The member 6| is folded on the fold line 6'2 as described. The flap 5? is folded forward as viewed in Figure '7 along the fold line 59 over to the right. The folded stay M is then inserted between the flap 52 and the flap 9? in its folded position. This is the position of the members shown in Figure 9. It will be noted however that the cut portions 43 and as in the position shown in Figure 9 are behind the portion $5. The tab 6| is slipped through both slots 41 and 36 thus tying the stay halves together.

From the position of assembly indicated in Figure 9, the flap 57 now attached to the'me'rn-' ber 4| is folded forward to the right on the fold line '58 (see Figures 7 and 9) and the tab Eii'at the other side of the member 49 is inserted in the slots 53 and 49, the flap 58 having been folded in the same position as the flap 51. The stay member therefore lies in face to'face relationship with the wall 59 of themember 40. The folding on the fold lil will therefore bring the flap 52 to the face view in the fragmentary assemblyposition indicated in Figure 10. It is then only necessary to fold the-flap downward as viewed in Figure lo beneath th'eflap 52 in which position the edge 65 may be inserted in the slot This assembly is indicated in Figure 11.

The viewin Figure 11 is shown with the open long pocket of the wallet at the top while in Figure this is shown at the bottom.

As indicated in Figure 11 the wallet provides a long pocket H extending the whole length of the wallet, two half side pockets 12 and 13 entirely formed in the stay member ti and two outer pockets id and which have angular openings as indicated in Figure 11.

In the modification shown in Figures 12, 13 and 14, a double stay member is used. This member is numbered 80. This is similar in many respects to the sta member 41 of Figure 8 except that it is provided with tongues 8| and 82 which are folded along the fold lines 83 and 84 over the edge 85 of the upper portion 86 of the stay member. The stay member 89 is provided with a central fold line 8'! supporting the whole section 86 from the spaced sections 88 and 89 which corresponds to the sections 44 and 43 of Figure 8. The section 89 may be provided in its center region with a facing 99 which has an outer surface finish since this portion will be open and exposed and form the section ultimately between the pockets in the stay member. The tab 9| is also a finishing tab. Slots 92 and 93 correspond: to slots 4.6 and 41 of Figure 8, and slots 94 andilii corr'espondto slots 48 and 49 of Fig ure 8. In addition to these slots the full section 86 is providedwith sets of parallelslots 96 and 91 at the right of Figure 13 in the upper corner, and 98 and 99 at the left of Figure 13. These slots form strips as will be seen, into which a so-called divider is attached. This divider is shown attached in Figure 14. It comprises a sheet |9|| at the upper corners of which are died out T-shaped members |0| and I02, the stem of the T beingattached to the member I00; These T-shaped members IOI, IUZ are inserted through the slots98 and 91 atone side of the stay, and 98 and 99 at theother side of the stay, the strip I93 showing over the T element |ll| of the divider I09 and the strip I'M showing over the T element I82 of the divider Hill.

The other porton'of the modification now being ure 1', the only exception being that the opening of each main front pocket has a somewhat differ.- ent' shape than that shown in Figure 1. The

assembly'oi the" element I06 takes place also in a manner similar to that shown in Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6, subsequent to the assembly previously describedof the divider and the stay member. The only" exception is that the tabs 24 and 23 are inserted respectively in thefolded stay 80 through the" slots 93 and 92 on the one side, and 95 and 94-011 the other side. Thea-ssernbly otherwise follows-that described Figures 5 and 6.

this wallet as assembled there is an additio'n'al pocket in each half of the wallet making two pockets more than the wallet ofFigur'es 1-6. one set" of'poekets is formed by the double stay member the openings to these pockets being at the curved sections ofthe portions 88 and 89' of 13. The second set of pockets is formed between the'walls 88 of the element89 and H] of the element I96 on one side of the wallet and on the other "side of the wallet between the portions 89 and 9; Thethird; set ofpockets are formed with the back was thereof 'as the portions 9' and IO and the front wall thereof as the flaps 1 and 8.

V There is of course in this wallet the elongated bill container with the dividing element Hill as previously described.

In the construction of this wallet, it will be noted that the inner set of pockets formed by the stay element 89 has a narrower hinge section at the backof the stay, namely in the face portion of the part 86than the outer set of pockets which are spac'edby the open portion between the elements 9 and 0. The open section between the elements 88 and 89 may be similar in size to the space of the wallet of Figure 11 with the spacing between the pockets 9 and Ill even greater than that between the inner pockets. This large hinged section in the central part of the wallet permits an expansion of the wallet to a size that will take a great many bills and cards without bulging or deforming the uniform shape of the wallet when it is folded.

The double floating stay member shown in Figure 13 which may be of course incorporated in the other modifications, provides many advantages. This member provides two pockets extending from the ends of the wallet to, but not covering the central section. In this case the pockets are adapted to contain cards and the like and are sufiiciently deep so that a number of cards may be put in them, thereby not only providing pocket space, but also adding stiffness to the wallet in the sections desired so that when the wallet is folded the bend will all occur in the central part of the wallet. The central section is left sufficiently wide for this purpose. An added feature is that this pocket stay member is floating, thus permitting adjustment longitudinally in the wallet to comply with non-uniform use. It may often happen that one puts more cards or bulkier objects in one stay pocket than in the other and as a result the wallet will bulge more at one side than the other. The floating feature will permit the stay to draw more towards one end of the wallet than the other, evening up the fold.

It will be evident that in the present invention various changes in forms and shape may be made without departing from the principles of constructions described and common in the various modifications shown in the specification.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. A wallet of the type described comprising a pocket formed in the length of the wallet by an outer wall on one side and an inner wall on the other side, said inner wallv comprising a free floating stay member forming the back wall of a pair of pockets extending from their respective openings on either side of the center line of fold to the ends of the wallet, means, forming the front walls of said pairs of pockets, extending as flaps from the bottom edge of said outer wall and folded over said stay member and between the latter and the inner face of said outer wall, the openings of said pockets being well spaced from the middle fold of said wallet, and means forming a further set of pockets having their front faces extending as flaps from said outer wall at the ends thereof and having entrance openings in the wall forming fronts of the first mentioned pair of pockets, said last openings being spaced well away from the openings forming the first mentioned pair of pockets, the rear wall of each of said last pair of pockets being formed by a piece of material attached to the rear of the front wall of the first mentioned pair of pockets, said piece extending beyond the opening of the further pair of pockets thus sealing the different pairs of pockets off from each other.

2. A wallet of the type described comprising a pocket formed the length of the wallet by an outer wall on the one side and an inner wall on the other side, said inner wall comprising a folded stay member forming a pair of stay pockets having openings transverse to the wallet facing each other in the center section thereof with the pockets occupying each less than half the length of the wallet, and a second pair of pockets positioned over the front walls of said stay pockets with said front wall forming the back walls of said second pair of pockets, the front walls of said second pair of pockets formed by flaps extending from the lower side edge of said outer wall lying over the front of the stay pockets and folded behind said stay. wall thereby extending in face to face relation with the inner portion of the folded stay member, means attaching the inner stay walls to said, portion of the flaps facing them in a flexible longitudinal adjustment connection, a third pair of pockets formed with end flaps attached to said outer wall at the end edges thereof and extending over the front of said second pair of pockets, the front walls of said second pair of pockets having athree-sided slot comprising a longer slot positioned transversely of the wallet and two shorter slots commencing at the ends of the longer slot and extending longitudinally of the wallet over which a part of said end flaps fold,

' said part of the end flaps being of sufiicient width to have side portions thereof, after being folded, slip through the two shorter slots, and a sheet of material attached to the. rear face of the flaps extending from the lower edge of the sides of the outer wall covering the three-sided slot and extending to the ends of the wallet forming the back member of the third pair of pockets.

3. A construction as in claim 2 having a dividing partition sheet extending the length of the pocket formed the length of the wallet, said dividing sheet having a T-shaped tongue and said folded stay member having longitudinal straps positioned adjacent the tongues at the inner edges of the pocket, said tongues and straps interlocking, whereby said dividing partition is adjustable with the stay member.

EMIL KARL BENZ.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain May 9, 1940' 

